Arab News picks up the story about fraudulent degrees purchased from an American ‘diploma mill’, offering Saudi government response to claims that at least 70 Saudis had partaken of the forbidden fruit. The government promises an investigation. It also asks Saudi media to not accept ads from sketchy organizations offering degrees.

The problem is complicated by several factors. In the US, there is no single, federal agency that establishes school curricula and course requirements. Each of the states has its own Dept. of Education that does this. Universities are not graded or accredited, per se, by the federal government. This is handled by a handful of regional accreditation bodies. Things get even more complicated when you take into account that not all students signing up for courses are looking for academic credits or degrees: they want only to learn new things. The states, therefore, do not limit educational institutions to only those offering degrees.

The problems arise when people try to game the system by offering more than they are legally permitted to offer. Sometimes (often) it’s out-and-out fraud. Sometimes, though, it’s a misunderstanding between the institution and the student, with the student not understanding the limits of what’s being offered.

In this instance, there’s not much question about the intent of the organization. It was offering counterfeit degrees from real universities as well as phony degrees from imaginary schools.

Fake-degree mill in US leads to Saudi inquest
Fatima Sidiya I Arab News

JEDDAH: A long list of people who had purchased or attempted to purchase fake university diplomas in the United States has spurred the Saudi education authorities to launch an investigation into the issue of Saudis and expatriates who may be working in the Kingdom on counterfeit certificates.

However, Shoura Council member Abdullah Al-Tuwairqi called the reaction to the list “disappointing,” and expressed concern that education officials would have a death-by-committee mentality in addressing the issue.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Washington state recently obtained and posted online a list of nearly 10,000 names of people who had spent $7.3 million on purchasing or attempting to purchase fake diplomas from an illegal operation. The US Department of Justice shut down the illegal enterprise and compiled a list of its clients. The list was then leaked to the newspaper, which posted it online at: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/data/diploma-mill/.

The list contains at least 70 Saudis, or persons who listed their country of residence as Saudi Arabia. For example, one of the names on the list is a Saudi woman who bought degrees in obstetrics and gynecology. The newspaper reported that US federal investigators do not know if the woman is currently working as a medical doctor in the Kingdom.
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